


Not Alone in a lightening storm

by shirohiroki



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Universe, Depression, Emptiness, Grounding, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Insomnia, Loneliness, M/M, No Dialogue, comfort kinda, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-05 21:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20280130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shirohiroki/pseuds/shirohiroki
Summary: It's summer, meaning short nights in sweltering heat between classes, alone, silent and his mind is filled with unnerving white noise. He was alone when he waits for a storm to rise in Konoha, dark clouds filled with oncoming rain just waiting to drop, electricity filling the air as lightning threatens to come closer, thunder in his chest and across the valley. It's better than just alone because he feels it all, but he has company suddenly, for once.





	Not Alone in a lightening storm

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having a hard time sleeping lately so I wrote this as a comfort fic, I think. I feel better, hope ya'll get some rest or have a good day, wherever you are in the day.

The air was humid and stifling, the open window was stale with the lack of wind and the heat rising from the path below did little to justify anything as it wafted in. His hearing adjusted with an inaudible ring of pressure changing, he clicked his jaw to try and alleviate it, crossing his legs. 

'It's disgusting' he thought moodily, his body was heavy nonetheless, blue eyes scanned his environment.

Dishes were done.  
Check.  
Garbage brought out.  
Check.  
Plant, watered and dusted.  
Check.  
Floors bare and spotless.

Yes.

The ringing didn't get much better and he flopped onto his side, muffling it down to half, it was dark. He should sleep, he had class tomorrow, just he had today and the other day.

Coming home his tasks we're accomplished, homework piled neatly by the door in his bag, scrolls on anatomy studied, ninjutsu chakra pathways memorized, up to the arms and pulsed out, hand signs beaten by repetition so it was automatic.

He should feel accomplished.

He felt hollow, tired but not for sleep, his brain saw grey because there wasn't light in his apartment but he still felt the migraine settle from the tension in his mind.

It searched and searched for something his hungry brain could grasp onto, to analyze and not be left alone with itself. He swallowed audibly, his body was aching and uncomfortable, his skin felt like it could peel off, his hair itched with no cause and he felt irritable at it all.

He hated nights, he was never tired enough to sleep, feeling emptiness swallow him without outer stimuli to drag him away from the loneliness of his mind. No amount of good grades helped, no studying and outsmarting Sakura, no outcompeting with Sasuke helped, and no amount of practical jokes behind peoples backs could remove his bitterness at his classmates.

They went home, exhausted, slacked on schoolwork and proudly claimed their parents had surprises for their hard work, an ironic event really. They looked flushed discussing people in their lives, how they anticipated social events, had fun, enjoyed one another's presence. 

He looked on, feeling pressure from the barriers boxing him in and keeping him distanced. His lack of friends, family, interests, ambition, the invisible lines that segregated him from others and their parents. Nearly unspoken, occasionally murmured though, monster, idiot, demon child.

His eyelids felt heavy but not with sleep, closing them hurt, opening them moreso.

So he tried listening to the thrum of his heartbeat, try to feel the flow of blood and chakra, listens to the rhythmic ticking of his alarm, 7 hours to go.

He always tried picturing his chakra as blue but in his mind's eye but it usually came as red, the same color as his blood, the vibrant color of rare sunsets, pretty flowers, the Uchiha's dojutsu unleashed.

So he let his empty mind grab onto the feeling of chakra, feeling it move in his veins and arteries, through his heart, lungs, and brain, to his vital organs then limbs, moving into every cell of his body and breathing life and energy alongside his most recent meal.

His hot skin prickled as a lukewarm breeze brushed across his sweat laden skin, he focused his breathing and took in the familiar scents wafting in.

The unusually clean smell that accompanied cooler breezes, the smell of leaves and grass, hints of earth mixing in.

His limbs phased in and out of sensation, heavy and comfortable, his spine tingled as he sighed, feeling for the first time in the evening his consciousness release its hold on reality and time. It pulsed, the dark fuzziness of alertness, he let his mind drift, it unconsciously grasping on the day's events to create a picture to lull him to sleep. 

Nonsensical memories phased in and out without reason. Kiba's hair, Yuu's voice, Ino's gentle comments regarding Sakura, Sakura's eyes, Shikamaru's snark rebuttals quietly to the theories about relativity, Hintata's eye's meeting his. Sasuke's individual eyelashes, thick, attached and dark as night, contrasting with alabaster skin.

The minute difference in the blackness of his pupils to his iris. The way they flexed taking in light, his own reflection in the whole of Sasuke's eyes, the solidity of his stare and the careful observation returned.

Nothing calculating, judging or anticipating. It became highlighted in his mind and looped, removing the sound of the noisy classroom, and Naruto finally drifted off with comfortable silence.

-

The air had that clean scent about it, the smell of dirt, grass and leaves cleansed. It also had that energetic feel, the clouds stirred about above, looking complicated as the greys mixed and melded, a crackle of energy was building, filling each molecule above.

The students filed out of the schoolyard in a frenzy as they hurried to their homes, having witnessed the previous downpour from the security of the classroom. Naruto pulled on his old cloak, it wasn't much but it keeps the rain off him for a time. He felt still, as he watched the sky stir up above him, he liked how the clouds moved, lifelike and energetic.

The rain would come, a chill in the air alerted him to its nearness and his skin prickled as the first distant boom of thunder alerted him of the violent nature of today's storm. 

The geography of Konoha was bowl like in a sense, slightly concave with the Hokage mountain wrapped around the heart of the village like an unequal crescent moon. The thunder boomed of its walls echoing through the valley, reverberating and shaking the wooden structures, the glass panes of the schoolhouse rattled.

The sky became dark grey and he felt the omnipresence of the tone covering him in unison with the schoolyard. The color seemed to bleed out of the trees and the first flash caused his chest to contract then freeze, he blinked at the cold breeze as it rolled over him.

He felt enchanted at the slight and he stepped backward, his shoulder blades hitting the school wall and it fought to spirit away his body heat.

His mind said to look to the right so he did without question.

Black eyes with incomparably black pupils met him and he observed them dilate and restrict slightly, adjusting to him.

Sasuke was a person, just like him, just like any other but he felt different. Naruto observed his classmates with frustrating silence, but never in the emotive curiosity that followed Sasuke. He observed the other with regard, wonder, interest for what the other saw, thought and felt. Often these types of thoughts entered his mind regarding the other and he questioned their origin.

They never really spoke directly, rebutted each or adding to comments or questions in class, answering and filling in each other's gaps in knowledge when verbalized.

But not complete conversations. Naruto hadn't really had proper conversations in some time, it was a fruitless effort, people spoke through him, looked through him, disregarding his existence or rebuffing it in spite.

"Hm" his brain fuse blew when he tried to he say hi, his body disagreeing and his jaw tensing shut between each sound.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted in return, dropping his gaze Naruto felt a tension building as he anticipated the departure of the other.

The other quietly shifted, pressing his back against the school in mimicry of Naruto's posture and they met each other gaze equally, without knowing if they had an understanding Naruto glanced back outward to the storm.

He could distantly make out the first of a heavy downpour drench the outer village, the patter of raindrops soothed him and he relaxed into the wall, feeling prior tension bleed into its rigidity, holding him steady. The energy in the air heightened and the second strike of lightning lit up just past the Hokage mountain. He could picture it landing, the violence of energy and the snap that sounded, each spark jutting out in slow motion as he watched it descend. 

It was perfect.

The wind picked up and the roar of rain reached them, the earth drenched further in the thundershower.

Water speckled his skin, cooling him and he shivered in delight, wind pressed against his face, rustled his cloak and tickled his hair. The sounds, sensation, sight, and emotion of a storm delighted him. It was ultimate and final, nothing could stop it, it ran it's course until nothing remained and the sky cleared.

His fingers spread out against the cool clay beneath them, another sensation added to the list grounding him. There wasn't the prevalent nothingness haunting him, sucking out the color in life because it was currently bleeding out of the earth through the rain, the sky refused to color in its monochromes and the environment was drenched in it, the air moved with desperate energy, dulling out the aching he felt in his limbs, and the white flashes of lightening eliminated his vision momentarily as the thunder reverberated in his chest and ears, his senses tuned to it's echo.

There was a sense of something undefinable all around his, the feeling of emotion he craved wrapped around him. Nature defining him, removing him from himself to observe outside his mind and wander in his sense's, unburdened by thought.

Cool, wet finder pads brushed against the back of his hand, light pressure not anchored but hovering.

He drew his gaze away from the ultimate and glanced right, he watched the glassy awe of Sasuke's eyes, the blackness interrupted by the wet reflection of lightning flashing in the distance. Pale cheeks we're flushed and speckled with raindrops, the rims of his eyelashes somewhat damp.

It shifted something and he felt a surge from inside, an odd sensation because he knew, from countless nights of chakra and blood tracing that nothing else existed but organs, fluid, muscle, and tissue. It was similar to how he felt prior, the emotive surge of thunder, rain, and lightening but his awe drew from an internal curiosity.

What was Sasuke thinking, looking out at Naruto's favorite scene? What type of emotions did he feel, was the wetness in his eyes caused by this?

What did he currently feel and what did he pay attention to, the rain on his skin, wind, or the enthralling vibration in his chest cavity caused by thunder rumbling.

Did he feel the shakiness of Naruto's hand, not caused by any physiological reason.

After the coolness of their skin passed they traded heat, or created heat together, at the same time?

That was an odd thought.

His eyes grasped back onto the distant lightning, his focus softer than before. A warmth covered his hand and he carefully flipped his hand up, palms radiating heat in unison.

His mind grasped onto the slightly gritty sensation of Sasuke's hand and the pads of his fingers created a unique sensation.

Enjoying the feeling he rubbed his own finger pads against the others, slippery friction tingled pleasantly.

It was such a nice texture, his thumb pressed into the soft gap between Sasuke's thumb and pointer, another pleasant finding.

Sasuke didn't look over as his fingers curled over his, pressure stilling Naruto's shaking, even if the rest of his felt like it was vibrating.

Maybe it was the storm, it wouldn't be the first time it made his heart skip beats and his lungs shudder as his throat constricted, he swallowed and blinked, unsure what he should be doing at this very moment.

Things weren't like this, he was rarely confused about what he has to do.

It was laid out clearly, lined up by others, structured protectively in his mind.

Instead, his throat was dry and his heart thundered with nervousness, an unfamiliar feeling. It was new, but not expected new like everything else was. His mind was good at processing information, it constructed fabricated scenes yet to come in the thousands and people walked along these lines, it'd been this way since his first memory in infancy.

Now it wasn't clear to him what was supposed to happen, how he was going to proceed.

So he did what he typically does when people got too close. He zoned out into the external environment, he existed in unison with it and it within him.

He felt the lightening jump across the sky, felt the thunder growling across the valley, warmed the rain with his body heat and pretended the extra warmth in his palm was part of him, gripping into it and enjoying its small heat.

His mind echoed with thunder, rain beating the ground and the slight shaking from the grip on his hand.

It wasn't scary.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought, its all appreciated, sorry there isn't much dialogue, not my strong suit.  
Also, neither is grammar as I've been told my sentences run long or too short, apologies and thanks for reading :)


End file.
